Showing posts with label the island. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the island. Show all posts

Friday, 19 May 2006

Westward Ho!

Once again I'm safely ensconced back in the South West of England following a most excellent week with relatives. The PSP arrived safely sans dead pixels. The only fly in the ointment is Sony's inexplicable decision not include a PC to PSP USB mini cable! The latest firmware update will have to wait.

Our trip to Blockbuster AKA "Blocky Buster" culminated in hiring Flightplan and The Island.

Flightplan is a stylish hodgepodge of poorly executed ideas and aspirations that exceeded the director's abilities. A claustrophobic, Hitchcockian thriller. A bereaved woman and her daughter are flying home from Berlin to America. At 30,000 feet the child vanishes and nobody admits she was ever on that plane. File under sub-Hitchcock and Spielberg.

The Island was an altogether improved experience. The chemistry between Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson is intense and they look like they're having fun, an ingredient that is in short supply in post Star Wars Hollywood.

Much has been made of the abundant advertising in The Island. However product placement is nothing new in commercial movies for example Back to the Future II and Minority Report. I smiled at the Apple Computer and MSN Search logos. Incidentally, unlike Google's fluctuating search engine antics, MSN Search still lists my portfolio site in pole position. Thanks Bill. The Calvin Klein commercial self consciously embraced post postmodernism as Jordan Two Delta admired her 'true' self Sarah Jordan (Scarlett Johansson lends her likeness to Calvin Klein amongst others).

Friday, 15 July 2005

Bay Route

I've no desire to compete with the likes of Harry Knowles and his 'writing' staff. But wouldn't it be dull if there was only an homogeneous source for movie musings, eh?

After wrapping up yesterday's post, I ventured over to IGN FilmForce and read the review for The Island (2005). The movie centres around Lincoln Six-Echo (Ewan McGregor) and Jordan Two-Delta (Scarlett Johansson) as they attempt to escape a NASA nightmare. My interest piqued, I downloaded the teaser preview from the official site.



The lauded freeway frenzies from The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) have been overtaken by director Michael Bay's custom coupe. Logan's Run (1976) meets Minority Report (2002) by way of Brave New World (1932) and big brands.

Want movies on the go? A veritable avalanche of UMD titles are now available for pre-order from Play.

Now that my podcast is listed in iTunes, I'm working on releasing an Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) sample sometime next week.